A blog out of Bellingham, Washington

Happy Beatles Rooftop Concert Anniversary Day!

Remember those friends of mine I’ve written about twice before (here and here), my buddies from high school and college back in New Jersey who share my deep obsession with music?

Well, two days ago one of those friends messaged this to me on Facebook:

Keith: This Wednesday will be the 44th anniversary of the Beatles rooftop concert. Time for a F&B post if you ask me.

Much to my great shame, I admit here and now, in full view of the public, the date had slipped my mind.

So, I responded to my friend, and the following exchange occurred:

Me: Brilliant idea! Thanks for the tip! Still one of the greatest performances…EVER!

Keith: When I get my hands on a time machine, I’ll save you a seat. First stop Abbey Road, January 30, 1969.

Me: I’m SO there. Top five time machine destinations, for sure!

Especially telling, revealing the level of obsession and devotion to the music and it’s many trivial details, this was not to be the 40th anniversary or 50th or even 45th. No, Keith felt it was important and blogworthy that this will mark 44 years since the Beatles, in the midst of recording and filming Let It Be, performed a surprise 42-minute show on a rooftop in London, January 30, 1969. (For details, check out this great fanpage, full of juicy details and quotes concerning the event, including the reveal that Keith got the location wrong. The concert was performed on the rooftop of the Apple Records building, not the Abbey Road Studios building.)

Anyway, here we are! It’s Beatles Rooftop Concert Anniversary Day, and it is, indeed, a day to celebrate, for it WAS one of the greatest performances ever, great for the music as well as the gimmick, and I stand by my conviction that, should a time machine make itself available to me, one of my first stops WILL be that rooftop, on that day, 44 years ago.

By way of celebrating, here’s some video from that hallowed day:

…Oops!!! Sorry, that wasn’t The Beatles, that was a Japanese Beatles tribute band band called The Beans! (I knew something was wrong when I noticed the guy playing Paul McCartney was playing righty, when Paul’s a lefty, and, of course, the guy playing Billy Preston isn’t black.)

Let’s try this again.

By way of celebrating, here’s some video from that hallowed day:(Note: The video and audio are out of sync, this is only part of the show, and it will probably be removed from YouTube for copyright reasons, but it’s still an amazing document.)